Skywalker, this has to be one of the greatest nicknames ever.

Every time I see Bill Walton talking he is talking highly about someone... never about himself. What a class act 👏👏👏👏

David Thompson one of the best. Largely overlooked. It was a joy watching you.

I modeled some of my game after David. I used to hang on my jumper and shoot right after the peak of my leap. It worked well. Earl Monroe, Pistol Pete and David were my heroes. Great video.

The summer between my 7th and 8th grade years following my first season of organized basketball, I had the good fortune to get to go N.C.State's basketball camp with my best friend from East Cobb Junior high in Marietta, Ga. It was thrilling to get to meet David Thompson, Tom Burleson, Mo Rivers and the whole National Championship team and inspired me to continue to work hard on my game. In 1978 I was fortunate to be a member of the 26-2 runner-up state championship team from Asheville School in Asheville, N.Carolina. That same year in N.Carolina high school basketball James Worthy's team was single A state champs, Eric Sleepy Floyd's team was double AA state champs and Dominique Wilkins team was triple AAA state champs. What a great time to get to play high school basketball in North Carolina!

He should get more recognition, this man legit inspired Michael Jordan to play basketbal, without DT we wouldn’t have MJ

My family grew up with David they have so many great stories about him.

David Thompson was a Great Player without a doubt. Revolutionary at the time and very influential. Great Man too.

I've met Mr. Thompson had a great conversation and watched him play and is still a N.C. State fan.

The younger generation NBA players needs to watch this David Thompson documentary……

He was the father of the term called Vertical Leap

It’s unbelievable that David Thompson has NEVER received all the recognition he really deserved, and I fully understand, admire, and respect Michael Jordan naming David Thompson as his favorite player. Along with similar makeshift unsaved basketball courts , and similar athleticism, he was the perfect example to emulate.

Sometimes one needs to lose everything because there are lessons to be learned 🙏

I remember seeing him play when I was a teenager . Amazing to watch.

If MJ the GOAT. idolized that guy, then he is amazing basketball player. 👍👍

David Thompson thank you for all the good memories .

David I my opinion is one of the top 100 players of all time.

In the late 70's as a pre- teen and then teen and following the NBA my fav 3 where Dr.J, Pistol Pete, and Skywalker. NBA on CBS I loved that game.

looking back I was lucky enough to be at the ABA 's final game . Thanks to my Uncle David Campbell (rip)

Best two basketball players I loved to watch was David Thompson and Bernard King. Both lives shortened by personal demons (DT) and injury (BK).

Although his basketball career ended tragically, his redemption arc is something to be admired. He may not get the recognition he deserves as an influence and innovator on the court, but him being MJ's hero is all you need as far as credibility in my book!

We were middle school white kids in the Midwest. We lived for basketball and we idolized David Thompson, Dr. J, Artis, and Ghervin. It was never a black/white context. We just thought we were all basketball players.

For Thompson's senior year NCSU had signed a guard from Pennsylvania, but he decided to go someplace else and play football. Guy named Joe Montana.

He is the greatest ACC basketball of all time! Very, very nice, the compliments from Walton, Jordan and others. And he is a nice guy too. I've actually met him a few times.

I've learned about someone Special that I've not ever heard of. This is what I can tell my son about. He's a Sports fanatic and very knowledgeable as far as Sports are concerned.

Is any wonder Bill Walton won as many championships as he did. Always puts other players above himself what a class act

One of my favorite documentaries!

One of the very best. I appreciate his candor . I've been there.

David Thompson where is extremely talented athletically, and he was another version of Dr J., But like so many great players of the past never got to recognition that was deserving. He was truly a must see his leaping ability was out of this world. Without a doubt if he played today's game he would definitely be a superstar. Is one person of today's game that sort of reminds me of him and that is the grizzlies Superstar, Morant. His leaping ability and versatility is like no other very similar. I believe in a dunking contest he had leaped so high he had leaped between the top of the backboard and the square, or close to it, 🤔😇 simply amazing and awesome and it was a treasure and remember his highlights playing for Denver nuggets if I'm not mistaken 🤔.

I loved watching David Skywaker Thompson

I've been looking for film of that fall against Pitt online and this is the first time I found it. I was a child in Pittsburgh rooting for Pitt and remember how scary that fall was while he was laying on the floor unconscious.

David was uncanny! Thank you for the memories.

Much Gratitude

The original Skywalker 44inch vertical leap took down Bill Walton and UCLA maybe the most underrated great player basketball history.

Never guess who I was thinking about, watching Ja Morant and the Grizzles

David's hops are the stuff of legend.

Thompson, not Dr. J, is who Michael Jordan grew up idolizing & patterning his game after. That alone should tell you how great Thompson was!

I was shocked when I saw DT tapes of him playing ball. MJs gane to the basket is an exact copy. Down to the arm dunk poses and the free throw pose thru the air

I vividly remember a play during the 1976-77 ABA/NBA merger season in Portland Memorial Coliseum and David Thompson driving the baseline and being met at the rim by Bill Walton as Thompson flew in for a dunk, the entire backboard shattered! I can’t remember whether Walton blocked the shot or whether he got posterized because of all the glass! as a Blazer fan, Walton definitely blocked the shot! 😆

Good job, he brought a interest to Denver, I never thought was on the map. In Basketball 🏀 😉👊🏾

My favorite. College player of all time . I watch him even when he didn’t have the ball ! I’m a white kid from a small town in Missouri . Pop 736

David Thompson was FANTASTIC! Drugs Suck. Thank you, David, for all your Greatness.

Great talent. Should have made the NBA75 team. Hardin, Westbrook.....Really.

Imagine injury free careers of David Thompson, Bernard King, Bill Walton

Great player in the top ten of all times best Facts

It's a crying shame to see you tube channels that list what they think are the greatest basketball players of all time and , they don't seem to realize that basketball was played before 1990. David Thompson should be listed amongst the all time greats.

0:28 David Thompson was NOT the first "high flyer" in the NBA. Elgin Baylor.

24:20 Billy Paultz, lol!

I want you to know this about me, so that you can understand where, when and how I grew up: Born in Seattle in 1973, where I grew up. Sonics and Blazers fan. Japanese-American. 5'10". I first heard about 5'7" Monty Towe in 1999 or so. But, it wasn't until WELL after 2010, that I found out that Monty Towe is White!

I could listen to Walton talk about basketball all day and then some..

SKYWALKER was my favorite player growing up!!

I dont know what Thompson vert was but I guess it was at least close to 45" to 50" so at 6'4" he was playing way above the rim. I'm 66 I did see him in his prime ,no bs his jump shot was released above the rim.

KWGN Denver (channel 2) used to run a promo and there was "THE" rebound and dunk. IIRC the ball comes off the back of the rim out toward the top of the key and he goes up and snags the rebound with one hand, almost back over his head and slams it down. The Nuggets were wearing white uniforms that game. Anyone know or have that one on tape?

He always reminded me of Clyde Drexler!!!

Without a doubt one of the top 10 players of all time.

One of my all time favorite players what a beast. I believe he took a quarter off the top of the backboard and left change that's what was said😅. It probably wasn't true but could he sky.

I'm glad 😊 that I got a chance to see this guy play. i even say the game in college when he got hurt 😢 thank 😊 🙏🏾 God he made it to the pros great 👍🏾 👌 🙌🏾 🙏🏾 👏🏽 💯 basketball 🏀 player. Will go down as one of the greatest players ever. 1love brother David Thompson. And always remember Almighty Jehovah God in your life 🙏🏾 ❤️. And his son Jesus Christ 💙 🙏🏾 and don't forget the angels that watched over us. 1love and peace ✌️ 😌 ✨️ 🙏🏾 💕 ❤️.

At the 6:26 mark the narrator talks about Raleigh, North Carolina while showing a shot of *Fayetteville*, North Carolina, my hometown. I know the Market House, the Wachovia building, and the Green Street post office when I see them! 🤦🏽‍♂️

Thompson had me jumping over cars and doing silent dunks, all net, without touching the rim!

What's the name of that song at 11.10.

This is why I lough when someone says Russell Westbrook is the most athletic PG ever.

D.T. was not only a sky walker, but a Day Walker as well. Jordan can't compete with this guy.

The original skywalker super great NBA leaper

When I was in high school I was looking thru a Guinness book of words records when I saw record for verticle leap. It said David Thompson 47inches! He was playing for Denver at that time altho nuggets had joined NBA as well.

The 'Great One

mr David ally-oop Thompson .....

Michael Jordon not the greatest player ever as wilt Chamberlin is but I always heard of David Thompson but never new him or his game and now do plus I Wondered who MJ looked up to as a basketball player and this video answered many questions for me as I decided to take a break and mandarin and russian language learning! Thanks! To be a part of a team that beat a dynasty UCLA is memory for ever!

First high flyer my ass, before he got hurt Honeycomb Gus Johnson did it all, as well as numerous players in the 50s and 60s.

Amazing how his eyes are at rim level at 6 4

We used to call David Thompson, “Dr. Dunkenstein”, taken from the name Frankenstein.

O"GOD"D"T" Was "SO" SPECIAL &GIFTED "BLESSING'S 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼"BLACKSTONE ELMONT N.Y

Beautiful 😍

I attended Pocono Invitational Basketball Camp cannot remember the year David Thompson was there and I was selected to throw him an alley-oop I think Phil sellers from Rutgers was also there

David Thompson would be a top-five all-time player had it not been for drugs. He may also have been the greatest guard ever over Jordan.

I truly admired David Thompson, but in truth, he wasn't the first Skywalker. Elgin Baylor, Connie Hawkins, and Julius Erving all came along before him.

42:04 My ex-wife, and father of my daughter, looks a lot like Brooke! Our daughter was born in 2013.

Wow I never knew how David's career ended. Wow.

Great player, great talent. But wasn't Erving already playing above the rim. They are talking like he was the first, but Doc graduated from college four years earlier, if I'm not very much mistaken.

Who was the team mate labeled "The Gunner" by Elgin Baylor at Seattle University in 1958?

That HEAD BANDAGE, tho.

If memory serves me the violation North Carolina State was guilty of was paying for the paving of the road from the Thompson family home to the highway so don't discount that as to why Norm Sloan, who hated UNC and most especially Dean Smith who beat him like a drum, to blame Carolina for the NCAA becoming aware of NC State's violation in the matter. It was the fact of Sloan's hatred for Carolina as to why he left NC State to become the head coach of the University of Florida. Dean Smith won so much in the ACC that he was the impetus for a lot of ACC coaches leaving the ACC for other schools. I liked Thompson and pulled for NC State in 1974 on their quest to win the NCAA title. But you can be sure I was and will always be a Tar Heel fan whereas Phil Ford despite Michael Jordan will always be considered the prototype Carolina player. I am grateful to the then-UNC Assistant Coach Roy Williams for convincing Jordan and his family to have Michael attend school in Carolina. Ultimately it was David's addiction to drugs that diminished his career so he probably would have been Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan had he attended UNC and received the mentoring of Smith whose players never wanted to do anything that embarrassed the university or Smith because of how much they idolized him. Dean Smith was and will always be a basketball god in the state of North Carolina.

I dated David's cousin. She introduce me to him. David seemed like a nice man then.

Pure Basketball

Man I forgot about David Thompson

THE 197OS WAS THE DECADE FOR BASKETBALL PERIOD!

David Thompson could jump sooo high in college basketball. They discriminated against him by taking dunking out of college basketball. When he went to pro they allowed dunking again.

North Carolina state

YOU CAN NOT ANYTHING BAD ABOUT DAVID][ HE WAS ONE ALL BUSINESS ON THE COURT IN COLLEGE AND THE PRO'S[2023]

His career stopped when he got hurt in Studio 54. He fell down the steps, blew his knee out. Did David do drugs? Yes but that’s not what ended his career. Nine years later he comes back in an NBA all his All-Star game. Has 23 points winning and blows his knee out again.

This is a beautiful story. I just abhor the title to get people to watch. David Thompson is a player that doesn't need Michael Jordan's approval to be viewed.

I love to see former Denver nuggets players. Thompson was good, go nuggets

I was a Dr. J guy but Thompson was GREAT. ABA was a lot better than NBA.

Jordan is his shadow. Look at the similarities in their game play style.

Yeah the reason the NCAA outlawed slam dunks back then was because of Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Jabbar

I was born in Seattle in 1973, where I grew up. Sonics and Blazers fan. Japanese-American. I kid you not, it wasn't until after 2010, I did NOT know that Monty Towe is Caucasian!

🏀🙏🌄

BEST ACC PLAYER EVER!!!!!!!

MJ before MJ.

11:44 Sent to the moon.

Am I the only one who thinks that David Thompson looks a lot like Tracy McGrady in the thumbnail??